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Mandarran Religion and Faith
There are many religions practiced in the many countries of the Mandarran Union . The most prevalent being Hinduism and Paganism. Currently they are the only religions officially recognized by the ruling Socialist Unity Party. '''Though only 2 religions are recognized by the Federal Government, there are no laws that regulate or ban any religion, but every kind of temple or church must pay a flat property and income tax of 50% to the Federal Board of Religious Affairs. A Federal Board is elected from the religious clergy membership of the '''Socialist Unity Party every 5 years. This board collectively meets to decide on government policiy and tax dealing with religion. The head chairman of this Board is appointed by the Viceroy as part of the Cabinet. Mandarran Hinduism Mandarran Hinduism includes a wide variety of beliefs and hundreds of gods and goddesses. The main tradition in Mandarr is the Marada based Welspun tradition. There are many other traditions that are also popular such as the Hare Krishna tradition, and Kali Yoga tradition. Beliefs As stated before Hinduism has many gods, so it is believed by many to be a polythestic religion, which is not the case. All the different gods and goddesses are just different representations and aspects of the one true god, called''' Brahman'. Brahman is worshipped, by singing musical prayer called '''Kritan', meditating too, doing spiritual dances, or making offerings to his different aspects and forms. Brahman manifests himself in many ways. One way is in the Hindu Trinity or the Trimurti. The Trimurti consists of Brahma(the creater), Vishnu(the Preserver) and Shiva(the destroyer). The others ways Brahman manifests himself are through the Incarnations of the Trimurti on earth. One of the most well known is Krishna. ' Mandarran Hindus believe in reincarnation, and karma. For Hindus the main way to escape the cycle of rebirth and death, is to achieve Atman(spritual enlightenment) through meditation, and prayer. Another way is to become a '''Sadhu. '''Sadhu's completely dedicate themselves to a particular god or goddess. They normally live the life of a homeless Ascetitic Gods and Goddesses Brahman Supreme god head. All hindu gods and goddesses are different aspects of this god head. ganesha.jpg|Lord Ganesha shiva_1.jpg|Lord Shiva vishnu.jpg|Lord Vishnu durga_2.jpg|Durga brahma.jpg|Lord Brahma krishna.jpg|Lord Krishna Brahma Within the hindu trinity of Brahma, Vishnu and Shiva, Brahma is the creator, Vishnu the preserver and Shiva the destroyer. Nevertheless, Brahma grew in a lotus out of the navel of the sleeping Vishnu. The daily alternation of light and dark is attributed to the activity of Brahma. In order to create the world and produce the human race, Brahma made a goddess out of himself. One half was woman and the other half was man. Brahma called the woman Gayatri, but she also became known by many other names such as Saraswati Vishnu In the basic Hindu Trinity of Brahma, Vishnu and Shiva, the Hindu god Vishnu is the preserver and protector of creation. Vishnu is the embodiment of mercy and goodness, the self-existent, all-pervading power that preserves the universe and maintains the cosmic order. Most often, the Hindu god Vishnu is shown with four attributes or weapons. In one hand Vishnu holds the conch or Sankha. The second hand of Vishnu holds the disc or Vaijra. The third hand of Vishnu holds the club and in the fourth hand Vishnu holds the lotus or Padma. Vishnu also has a bow called Sarnga and a sword called Nandaka. Most of the time, good and evil forces are evenly matched in the world. But at times, the balance is destroyed and evil demons get the upper hand. Often in response to a request by the other gods, Vishnu then incarnates in a human form to set the balance right again. 10 Vishnu incarnations are generally recognized as the most important Vishnu avatars, even though opinions differ naturally and some sources may also see other important figures of the indian heritage as incarnations of Vishnu. Incarnations of Vishnu #'Matsya-Fish incarnation #'Kurma'-Turtle incarnation #'Varaha'- Boar incarnation #'Narasingha'- Lion incarnation #'Vamana'-Dwarf Incarnation #'Parasurama' #'Ramma' #'Krishna' #'The Buddha' Shiva Shiva is the god of the yogis, self-controlled and celibate, while at the same time a lover of his spouse (shakti). Lord Shiva is the destroyer of the world, following Brahma the creator and Vishnu the preserver, after which Brahma again creates the world and so on. Shiva is responsible for change both in the form of death and destruction and in the positive sense of destroying the ego, the false identification with the form. This also includes the shedding of old habits and attachments. While of course many hindu deities are associated with different paths of yoga and meditation, in Shiva the art of meditation takes its most absolute form. In meditation, not only mind is stopped, everything is dropped. In deep meditation or samadhi, even the object of the meditation (like a mantra) is transformed into its formless essence, which is the essence of everything and everyone. Thus Shiva stands for letting go of everything in the world of forms. The path of Lord Shiva is the path of the ascetic yogi. Parvati(Durga) Durga is an incarnation of Devi or the Mother Goddess, a unified symbol of all divine forces. For Shaivas Durga is the wife of Shiva For Vaishnavas and Shaktas Durga is another form of Uma or Parvati. The Hindu Goddess Durga manifested when evil forces threathened the very existance of the Gods. To destroy these demons, all gods offered their radiance to her creation and each formed part of Durga's body. Durga also obtained very powerful weapons, such as the chakra from Vishnu and a trident from Shiva. Ganesha All Tantric and spiritual worship in the Mandarran Hindu tradition begins with the invocation of Lord Ganesha (or Lord Ganesh), the elephant-headed god. Ganesha became the Lord (Isha) of all existing beings (Gana) after winning a contest from his brother Karitkay. When given the task to race around the universe, Ganesha did not start the race like Kartikay did, but simply walked around Shiva and Parvati, both his father and mother as the source of all existence. Some say that Ganesha has so much devotion to his mother Parvati, that he remains celibate. When he understood that all women are but manifestations of his mother, he decided not to marry. Others hold however that Ganesha is the consort of Buddhi and Siddhi, daughters of Brahma. 'Ga' symbolizes Buddhi (intellect) and 'Na' symbolizes Vidnyana (wisdom). Ganesha is thus considered the master of intellect and wisdom. Ganesha is also often portrayed along with Saraswati and Lakshmi, symbolising that success and beauty always accompany wisdom. Acceptance of the somewhat funny looking elephant-headed man as the divine force stills the rational mind and its doubts, forcing one to look beyond outer appearances. Thus Ganesha creates the faith to remove all obstacles, forcing one to look beyond form, removing doubts and pointing out the spiritual side of everything. Ganesha is thus often worshipped to remove obstacles. Krishna Krishna is usually regarded as the eight incarnation of lord''' Vishnu and was born in the Dvarpara Yuga as the "dark one". Lord Krishna is the embodiment of love and divine joy, that destroys all pain and sin. He is the protector of sacred utterances and cows. Krishna is an instigator of all forms of knowledge and born to establish the religion of love. '''Krishna was brought up in a cowherds family and loved to play the flute to entertain the other cowherds, the milkmaids, and the cows. As a child, Krishna had great love for his foster-mother Yashoda and their relationship stands as a great exemple for the love between a mother and her child. Krishna also became very famous for teasing the milkmaids of Vrindavan as well as Yashoda. He and his friends would steal milk and butter, let the cows go free at milking time, hide the clothes of bathing girls or even break the water pots the milkmaids were carrying on their heads. Little Krishna was not just teasing purely for the fun of it. He wanted to destroy the ignorance of his devotees, teaching them not to be attached to matter and forms and only focus on him. As such, Lord Krishna is the deity of Hasya or Humour and a messenger of peace. Radha and''' Krishna''' are the divine couple that rules love, romance and the aesthetic sense. Radha was foremost among the milkmaids of Vrindavan, as the incarnation of Lakshmi, Vishnu's spouse and Krishna's obvious favorite. Ramma Ram is the 7th incarnation of Vishnu and the central figure of the Ramayana (Ramayan) epic. Ram took birth to free the earth from the cruelty and sins of the demon King Ravana (Ravan). Ravana had practiced austerities in order to propitiate Shiva and Brahma, who had granted him immunity from being killed by gods, gandharvas or demons. One of the gods had to take on a human form in order to be able to defeat Ravana. Mandarran Paganism Mandarran Paganism is unique as it has no written core of beliefs. Practitioners of this faith hold a wide variety of eclectic beliefs. There are a few common themes between them though. Mandarran Paganism is a nature based religion. It is based on the phases of the moon and sun, seasons, and weather. Mandarran Pagans have hundreds of gods and hundreds of different families of gods to represent almost everything in the world around them. Famous Gods and Goddesses Ceres Ceres is a goddess of fertility, grain, and agriculture. She is pictured as a mature motherly figure. Although she is the goddess who taught Mandarrans about agriculture, she is also the goddess responsible for creating winter. While her daughter Persephone was missing and no one seemed to know what had happened, Ceres grieved. She refused to do her job, so nothing grew. This was winter. After Persephone was found two compromises were made. (1) Persephone would spend half the year with her husband, Hades, and half the year with her mother, Ceres(2) As long as Ceres lived with her daughter the crops thrived, but whenever she went to the Underworld, winter came again. Hades The god Hades, son of Cronos and Rhea, received the Unerworld for his realm, when his brother gods, Jupiter and Neptune, received dominion of the sky and sea. Hades is the enemy of all gods and men, since nothing will sway him, he is rarely worshipped. The attributes of Hades include his watchdog Cerberus, the key to the Underworld, and sometimes a cornucopia or a two-pronged pick-axe. The cypress and narcissus are plants sacred to him. Sometimes black sheep were offered to him in sacrifice. Minor Faiths Orthodox Church Main Article: Orthodox Church ]]There are many minor faiths in Mandarr. Many of these faiths were introduced via tourism and contact with other nations. Such as the orthodox church from Ruthenia. It has a large following in the Province of Mundari, almost 10% of the population are followers of this minor faith. It is evident in the beautiful churches that are scattered across the country. Since the visit of the Ecumenical Patriarch of Auronopolis Konstantinos VII, was received with honors in Mundari and proclaims the creation of a Archdiocese in the south the region, the Holy See of Etchmiadzin was the first seat of the Archdiocese in the country, the Archdiocese will be recognized in the next Council celebrated in the Mount Agios in 3280 Other minor faiths include other forms of Christianity though it is not common and is most prevelant in Mundari. Archdiocese of Mundari Federal Board of Religious Affairs The Federal Board of Religious Affairs is an elected body of 35 clergy men and women, who are normally members of the Socialist Unity Party. Collectively they decide on the flat propety tax and the Income tax in place on organized religious establishments. The Board also handles requests for faiths to become government recognized. All rulings are approved by the Viceroy's appointed chairman. The chairman is appointed as part of the Viceroy's Cabinet Category:Mandarran Union